Traditional hook and loop mechanical fasteners are widely used in numerous products and articles such as diapers, shoes, disposable gowns, etc. In spite of their prevalence, they suffer from several drawbacks. The hook material is typically stiff and impermeable. Also, when used in articles worn on or near the human body, the hook material may irritate the skin or be uncomfortable. The hook material typically cannot be stretched or deformed significantly. Further, for some applications, the entanglement of hooks into loop material can frequently be difficult to remove, or may adhere to unintended surfaces. The highly abrasive nature of the hook material can also damage some surfaces. The act of peeling the hooks and loops apart can also result in a loud and unpleasant noise, making it difficult to release a fastener discreetly. Further still, in some applications, low peel strength but high resistance to shear is desired, whereas conventional hook and loop fasteners may offer excessively high peel strength to achieve a given level of shear resistance.
Variations of hook and loop fasteners have been proposed in which a foam layer is used to engage with hooks, but replacing low cost, flexible loop material with thicker, generally more expensive foams does not appear to have provided significant advantages, and does not address the known limitations of hook layers. Hook and loop fasteners have also been proposed in which an added foam section provides increased friction for a fastening member in a securing zone, but such proposals does not overcome the inherent limitations of hook materials.
Foam based fasteners are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/956,613, filed on Sep. 30, 2004, and naming as inventors F. J. Chen et. al. which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The Ser. No. 10/956,613 application describes an improved mechanical fastener that solves one or more of the aforementioned problems. Further improvements, however, are still needed.
According to the present disclosure, methods for improving the landing layers of the improved mechanical fastener are generally described. Resulting from these methods, the landing layers can exhibit improved attachment to the foam layer of the mechanical fastener. For example, the methods of the present disclosure can result in a mechanical fastener with an increased resistance of shear movement of the engaged layers. Furthermore, by subjecting materials to the methods of this invention, a wider and improved selection of materials for the landing layer can be provided.